Grapevine Plant Named `Paseante Noir`

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct variety of grapevine plant named ‘Paseante Noir’, particularly selected for its high resistance to Pierce&#39;s disease, as well as quality of fruit and wines produced is disclosed.

Latin name: Botanical classification: Vitis vinifera L.

Varietal denomination: The varietal denomination of the claimed varietyof grapevine plant is ‘Paseante Noir’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Pierce's disease (PD) is common across the southern United States fromVirginia to northern California. It is also common across Mexico andCentral America. The disease is caused by the bacterium Xylellafastidiosa, which is hosted by a very wide range of native andornamental plants. The bacterium is spread by xylem feeding insects asvectors, primarily sharpshooters. PD is one of the few diseases thatrapidly kills wine, table, and raisin grape cultivars of the cultivatedgrape, Vitis vinifera. Vector populations can be limited withinsecticides, but these are difficult to use near their typicallyriparian native habitat or in the ornamental landscapes in which theyflourish. Breeding for PD resistance has been active for over 70 years,but progress has been very slow due to a poor understanding of thegermplasm and the typically multigenic nature of the resistance in mostof the resistant grape species. The two most commonly grown PD resistantvarieties, ‘Blanc du Bois’ and ‘Lenoir’ (‘Lenoir’ is also known as‘Black Spanish’ or ‘Jacquet’), are F₁ hybrids between V. viniferacultivars and resistant American grape species from the southern UnitedStates, and are therefore only about 50% of V. vinifera. ‘Blanc du Bois’and ‘Lenoir” produce wines with lower quality than V. vinifera winegrape varieties, and they are tolerant of, rather than resistant to, X.fastidiosa infection, which results in their potential to expand areasdamaged by PD due to their ability to act as host plants for thebacteria and vectors. Neither ‘Blanc du Bois’ nor ‘Lenoir’ are patented.

Grapevine is an important and valuable crop. Accordingly, there is aneed for new varieties of grapevine plant. In particular, there is aneed for improved varieties of grapevine plant that produce high qualityfruit for winemaking and are resistant to Pierce's disease.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to meet these needs, the present invention is directed to animproved variety of grapevine plant. In particular, the inventionrelates to a new and distinct variety of grapevine plant (Vitis viniferaL.), which has been denominated as ‘Paseante Noir’, Grapevine plantvariety ‘Paseante Noir’ possesses very strong resistance to thebacterial causal agent of Pierce's disease (PD), and produces very highquality fruit and wines therefrom that are indistinguishable from thewidely grown European wine grape cultivars. Other PD resistant cultivarsare known, but their fruit and winemaking quality are poor in comparisonto ‘Paseante Noir’ and their resistance is much lower.

In particular, grapevine plant variety ‘Paseante Noir’ is a red winegrape selection that is about 97% V. vinifera (including 50%‘Zinfandel’, 25% ‘Petite Sirah’, and 12.5% ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’). Incomparison, the two most commonly grown PD resistant varieties, ‘Blancdu Bois’ and ‘Lenoir’, are only about 50% of V. vinifera. ‘PaseanteNoir’ is highly resistant to PD, as established in field trialsconducted in Ojai and along the Napa River in California. ‘PaseanteNoir’ blooms relatively late, but ripens mid-season. The berries aremedium and the clusters are well-filled and relatively large. Although‘Paseante Noir’ is spur fruitful, it typically has only one cluster pershoot and is more productive with cane pruning. Wines made from fruit of‘Paseante Noir’ grown in Davis and Napa, California may be described as:‘medium dark red with purple’; ‘berry pie’, ‘cassis’, ‘black olive’,‘herbal’, ‘dried hay’, ‘coffee’, ‘vegetal like Cabernet Sauvignon’,‘licorice’, ‘round’, ‘moderate tannins’, and ‘soft finish’.

Pedigree and Breeding History

The development of this new grapevine variety is in part a result of thediscovery of a single dominant gene for resistance to Xylellafastidiosa, the bacterial causal agent of Pierce's disease (PD). Thesource of the PD resistance is a form of V. arizonica (‘b43-17’) thatappears to have some V. candicans parentage and is from Monterrey,Mexico. ‘b43-17’ was crossed to the susceptible V. rupestris ‘A. deSerres’ to create the F8909 population. Neither ‘b43-17’ nor ‘A. deSerres’ are patented. The resistance from ‘b43-17’ was found to beinherited as a single dominant gene (locus), and this resistance gene,PdR1, was genetically mapped using the F8909 population by a grapevinebreeding program. Tightly linked simple sequence repeat (SSR) markerswere developed and were used in marker-assisted selection to excludesusceptible plants from evaluation in each round of selection. All theprogeny with PdR1 were tested for PD resistance and only those withstrong resistance were considered for use as parents. Potential parentswere also screened for fruit quality over generations and only thosewith good quality fruit and that appeared like V. vinifera wereselected.

Line ‘F8909-08’ from the F8909 population was crossed to ‘P79-101’, ahighly susceptible, advanced V. vinifera table grape selection from agrape breeding program. The resulting ‘F8909-08’ X ‘P79-101 F₁generation and progeny thereof were screened with the SSR markers forresistance to X. fastidiosa under greenhouse conditions. A highlyresistant selection from the ‘F8909-08’ X ‘P79-101’ cross, ‘00504-20’,was crossed to another V. vinifera table grape from a breeding program,‘B52-89’, to create ‘A81-138’, which was also selected for its very highresistance to PD. ‘A81-138’ was then used to cross to V. vinifera winegrapes for several generations of modified backcrossing to obtain thecandidate selection ‘09331-047’, which was later named as ‘PaseanteNoir’. None of the parents across the multiple backcross generations arepatented. These backcrosses were modified because of the highheterozygosity and recessive load found in grapes. Hence, to avoidexposure of deleterious recessive alleles, each generation ofbackcrossing was to a different and unrelated high quality V. viniferacultivar.

Accordingly, the parentage of ‘Paseante Noir’ is ‘07355-020’ (‘U0505-01’(‘A81-138’ X ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’) X ‘Petite Sirah’) X V. vinifera‘Zinfandel’. ‘Paseante Noir’ was particularly selected for its highresistance to Pierce's disease, as well as the quality of its fruit andwines produced therefrom. It is distinguishable from its maternal parentby its relatively large leaves with distinctive lobing and relativelylarge teeth, and from its paternal parent by its strong resistance to X.fastidiosa.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This new grapevine plant variety is illustrated by the accompanyingphotographs. The colors shown are as true as can be reasonably obtainedby conventional photographic procedures. The photographs are of plantsthat are five to seven years old. Colors referred to are in reference toThe Royal Horticultural Society Colour Charts Edition V.

FIG. 1 shows simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker data establishing a DNAfingerprint for ‘Paseante Noir’ with nine pure V. vinifera cultivars forcomparison. Alleles for marker-assisted selection of the Xylellafastidiosa locus (PdR1) are shown in red.

FIG. 2 illustrates the upper surface of a leaf of grapevine plantvariety ‘Paseante Noir’.

FIG. 3 illustrates ower surface of a leaf of grapevine plant variety‘Paseante Noir’.

FIG. 4 illustrates a section of a shoot tip of grapevine plant variety‘Paseante Noir’.

FIG. 5 illustrates a plant of grapevine plant variety ‘Paseante Noir’bearing clusters of berries.

FIG. 6 illustrates a cluster of grapes of grapevine plant variety‘Paseante Noir’.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The following is a detailed description of the new grapevine plantvariety designated as ‘Paseante Noir’, including the key differentiatingcharacteristics of this variety and comparisons of characteristics of‘Paseante Noir’ to other grapevine varieties. Unless otherwiseindicated, evaluation data were taken from five- to seven-year-oldplants, grown in Davis, Calif.

-   Classification:    -   -   Family.—Vitaceae.        -   Botanical name.—Vitis vinifera L.        -   Common name.—Grapevine.        -   Variety name.—‘Paseante Noir’.-   Parentage:    -   -   Female parent.—‘07355-020’ (unpatented).        -   Male parent.—‘Zinfandel’ (unpatented).-   Plant:    -   -   Berries.—Medium to large, spherical, dark purple-black with            light grey bloom.        -   Clusters.—Medium to large, long conical, loose to            well-filled with looser and long shoulders.        -   Leaves.—Five-lobed with overlapping lobes, rectangular in            outline, occasional teeth in the lateral sinuses, small            short rounded teeth on leaf margin, glabrous adaxial            surface, relatively dense short tomentum on abaxial surface,            red-purple petioles and color diffuses into the veins.        -   Shoot tips.—Erect, green with white tomentum on upper            leaves.        -   Production.—Blooms relatively late, ripens mid-season, more            productive with cane pruning.        -   Method of propagation.—Vegetative propagation via woody or            herbaceous cuttings, or budding and grafting to rootstock.            ‘Paseante Noir’ has been asexually reproduced June 2009 at            greenhouses at Orchard Park Dr. in Davis, Calif. from            herbaceous cuttings. Any rootstock can be used with the            variety. Most often it will be grown on rootstocks that            resist grape phylloxera and or nematodes. In testing,            selections were evaluated grafted on ‘1103P’ rootstock which            is not patented. It was chosen for ease of propagation and            because it is widely used in CA. The variety has been            grafted on many other rootstocks for testing in field trials            as well.

‘Paseante Noir’ has the highest form of resistance to X. fastidiosacoupled with the highest wine quality of any PD resistant wine grape yetproduced. ‘Paseante Noir’ is selected for very high resistance, not themore commonly found tolerance, to prevent the production of host plantscapable of further spreading PD to surrounding vineyards.

‘Paseante Noir’ has a very strong PD resistance and the highest winequality of any currently used PD resistant wine grape. PD is one of thefew diseases that kill susceptible grapevines. Two most popular PDresistant wine grape varieties, ‘Blanc du Bois’ and ‘Lenoir’ (‘Lenoir’is also known as ‘Black Spanish’ or ‘Jacquez’), were used as controls orstandards in all testing so that the wine quality and resistance of thecandidate variety could be compared to available PD resistant varietiesused across the southern United States. It is noted that ‘Blanc du Bois’and ‘Lenoir’ have relatively poor wine quality and are tolerant, notresistant, to PD. Neither ‘Blanc du Bois’ nor ‘Lenoir’ are patented.

‘Paseante Noir’ has far better PD resistance and wine quality whencompared with ‘Blanc du Bois’ and ‘Lenoir’. In other words, ‘PaseanteNoir’ combines very strong resistance to X. fastidiosa with the winequality of internationally acclaimed wine grape cultivars. ‘PaseanteNoir’ was selected as a variety that exhibits high resistance to X.fastidiosa and V. vinifira-like wine quality. The data presented beloware intended to further characterize ‘Paseante Noir’. The appearance of‘Paseante Noir’ is illustrated in FIGS. 2-6, and further characteristicsof ‘Paseante Noir’ are presented in Tables 1-8.

FIG. 1 presents the DNA fingerprinting profile for ‘Paseante Noir’ andnine pure Vitis vinifera cultivars for comparison with the standard setof internationally agreed-upon genetic markers. This SSR fingerprintingprofile can be used for DNA-based identification.

Table 1 presents typical phenological data for ‘Paseante Noir’. Thesedata are for 2016, but the ranking of the selections in regard to anearly cultivar (‘Pinot noir’) and a late cultivar (‘Cabernet Sauvignon’)have been typical over years. In general, ‘Paseante Noir’ isphenologically mid-season. Based on the percentage of V. vinifera inthis plant and the nature of its parents, the variety is expected togrow in USDA Hardiness Zone 6-7.

TABLE 1 Average phenological states for ‘Paseante Noir’. ‘CabernetSauvignon’ (late) and ‘Pinot noir’ (early) are included as comparisons.50% 50% 24° Cultivar Budbreak bloom veraison Brix ‘Paseante Noir’ 3/175/5 7/17 8/9 ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ 3/24 5/7 7/21  8/30 ‘Pinot Noir’ 3/10 4/30 7/9  8/9

Table 2 presents the average cluster and berry data for ‘Paseante Noir’and averaged over multiple years.

TABLE 2 Average cluster and berry sizes of ‘Paseante Noir’ and itscompar- ison varieties. Data are averages over multiple years. Num- berAvg. t-test Avg. t-test of Cluster Cluster Berry Berry Genotype YearsWt. (g) Wt. Wt. (g) Wt. Clusters ‘Paseante Noir’ 7 294 ab 1.3 abc Loose‘Blanc du Bois’ 6 148 d 1.5 a Well-filled ‘Cabernet 6 132 d 1.2 c Looseto Sauvignon’ well-filled ‘Chardonnay’ 6 196 cd 1.5 ab Well-filled tocompact ‘Lenoir’ 6 157 d 1.3 bc Loose

Table 3 presents the average yield per vine data taken over 2016 to2018.

TABLE 3 Average production data for ‘Paseante Noir’ and its compar- isonvarieties. Data are averages from three years (2016 to 2018). Avg. Std.Num- Yield/ Dev. ber of Genotype Vine (kg) (kg) t-test Years ‘PaseanteNoir’ 10.0 0.9 a 3 ‘Blanc du Bois’ 12.7 1.8 a 3 ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’10.9 1.8 a 3 ‘Chardonnay’ 10.9 3.2 a 3 ‘Lenoir’ 20.0 6.8 b 3

Mean berry juice data were also taken and Table 4 presents this dataover a five-year period between 2014 and 2018. These values areconsistent with cultivars that produce high quality wines.

TABLE 4 Average juice data for ‘Paseante Noir’ and its comparisonvarieties. Data are averages from five years (2014 to 2018). Avg. Avg.titrat- L- t-test t-test able t-test malic t-test Avg. Avg. Avg. Avg.acidity Avg. acid Avg. Genotype ° Brix ° Brix pH pH (g/L) TA (g/L) MA‘Paseante 27.5 ab 3.78 ab 5.0 e 1.6 d Noir’ ‘Blanc du 23.5 c 3.58 bc 5.2de 2.3 bcd Bois’ ‘Cabernet 25.8 b 3.74 abc 5.2 de 1.9 bcd Sauvignon’‘Chardonnay’ 23.3 cd 3.68 bc 5.9 cd 2.4 bc ‘Lenoir’ 21.3 e 3.96 a 9.1 a4.5 a

Xylella fastidiosa susceptibility data are presented in Table 5, whichpresents the levels of X. fastidiosa in relationship to tolerant (‘Blancdu Bois’ and to a lesser extent, ‘Lenoir’) and susceptible (‘Chardonnay’and ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’) cultivars. These are also mean data fromrepeated testing over seasons and greenhouses. Because of the highvariation in greenhouse conditions, at least four standards(bio-controls) were always used: ‘b43-17’, ‘Blanc du Bois’, ‘Lenoir’,and ‘Chardonnay’ (and occasionally other V. vinifera cultivars), whichallows the data to be compared across greenhouses, tests and seasons.These varieties tend to be very consistent in the amounts of bacteriathey support as well as the severity of their disease expression. Thecut-off between resistant and susceptible is usually between 75,000 and250,000 colony forming units per milliliter (cfu/ml).

TABLE 5 Xylella fastidiosa concentrations based on ELISA readings andconverted to colony forming units (cfu/ml). Vitis arizonica ‘b43-17’ isthe source of resistance in the breeding program. Geo- Num- metric Leastber of Mean Sq. Std. Times Cultivar cfu/ml t-test Mean Error Tested‘b43-17’  12423 a  9.4 0.2 11 ‘Paseante Noir’  73318 b 11.2 0.3  5‘Blanc du Bois’  859096 c 13.7 0.2 11 ‘Lenoir’ 2421748 d 14.7 0.6  2‘Chardonnay’ 5197228 d 15.5 0.2 11 ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ 6582993 d 15.70.8  1

Table 6 presents the phenotype of ‘Paseante Noir’. The variety hasnormal hermaphroditic flowers and typical floral development as is foundin commercial V. vinifera wine grapes.

‘Paseante Noir’ Berry L, W 1.5 cm × 1.7 cm Berry weight, shape 1.1g/round Seed number, length 2 and width typical for V. vinifera winegrapes, but not measured Cluster L, W, shape, 21.0 cm × 28.0 cm,compactness, long conical, some 2 clusters/shoot winged, loose Pruningweights 2.55 kg Trunk width at 30 cm 4.5 cm Trunk color and textureRough shaggy bark 178D Woody shoots diameter 0.8 cm/ above cluster/and7.0 cm internode length Woody shoot texture First year bark and coloradheres but peels in strips in second year 164B Active shoot color, 142Dinternode color above N144D the cluster zone/cluster 0.8 cm/7.0 cm zoneshoot diameter/internode length (shoots same size as woody canes in thecluster zone) Tendril length, 6.5 cm diameter 0.2 cm Tendril color,Opposite 144C leaves and alternating 2 nodes skip 2 nodes skip Seedcolor 164B #Berries/cluster 320 Berry color skin and 203D waxy bloom190D Leaves L, W 23.0 cm × 20.0 cm Leaf arrangement, leaf Alternate,palmate shape, and leaf color with 5 lobes Top/Bottom 141C/142B PetioleL, diameter, 12.0 cm texture 0.4 cm smooth Petiole color 71A Shoot tipcolor (first 141C opened leaf) Harvest date August 20 Peduncle L, diam.,4.5 cm color, texture 0.5 cm N144B Smooth

Flower Descriptions

The floral buds and flower clusters are formed within the latent(dormant) bud in the year before flowering. As the pre-formed nodes onthe compressed stems within the latent bud expand and the flowerclusters begin developing and the individual flowers on the paniclebegin forming. They are very small 2-4 mm and closer to 2 mm with winegrapes.

Leaf Descriptions

Rounded cuneiform leaves with rounded lateral lobes, shallow overlappinglateral sinuses, overlapping closed petiolar sinus, short rounded teeth,moderately dense tomentum on adaxial surface, red-purple (N78B) petioleswhich diffuses into the main veins

Fruit and Juice Parameters

YAN is yeast assimilable nitrogen and helps predict fermentationsuccess. Seed color is rated as green to brown for mature seeds.

Berry Descriptions

The variety is not a “slip-skin” type grapes. They have skin thatadheres to the flesh tightly. They are not firm at ripeness and are softcompared to modern era table grapes at harvest. The pedicels have normalattachment to the berries and are not distinguishable from other V.vinifera wine grapes in this or other morphological features, nor injuice and wine analysis.

Table 7 presents the wine characteristics of ‘Paseante Noir’.

Total L- Potas- YAN Cate- antho- malic sium (mg/ chin cyan- ° Bri TAacid (mg/ L, (mg/ Tannin ins x (g/L) pH (g/L) L) as N) L) (mg/L) (mg/L)‘Pase- 24.4 4.6 3.75 1.11 2050 298 8 569 1556 ante Noir’

Table 8 presents the juice, fruit and seed phenotype of ‘Paseante Noir’.

Skin Seed Seed Tannin Color Tannin (1 = (1 = (1 = Juice Juice Skin low,gr, high, Juice Inten- Fla- Fla- 4 = 4 = Seed 4 = Hue sity vor vor high)br) Flavor low) ‘Pase- red med fruity, ripe 3 3 nutty, 2 ante spicy jam,slight- Noir’ plum ly bitter

Paseante Noir’ has excellent PD resistance. However, it is highlysusceptible to a wide range of pests and diseases in a manner similar toother V. vinifera cultivars, and thus it must be treated as a pure V.vinifera cultivar in terms of susceptibility to fungal diseases andpests. ‘Paseante Noir’ has no known tolerance to adverse weather. Plantsobserved were found to be true to type through successive generations ofasexual reproductions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A new and distinct variety of grapevine plant designated ‘Paseante Noir’ as shown and described herein. 